


Childish Indulgences

by lokifiction



Category: Loki (Marvel) - Fandom
Genre: Autumn, Autumn-Themed Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff fluff and more fluff, seriously i can't stress enough the fluff in this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-30
Updated: 2017-09-30
Packaged: 2019-01-07 05:53:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12227064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lokifiction/pseuds/lokifiction
Summary: A bit of autumn yard work turns into an afternoon of childish fun.





	Childish Indulgences

“Do we have a rake in the shed?”

“A what?” Loki turned to glance at me from his position in the armchair, placing his leather-bound book on the side table, confusion muddling his aristocratic features.

“A rake. You know, for the leaves,” I replied, stepping over to the arched window and pulling aside the thick velvet drape, looking down upon on our expansive, fenced yard, the carefully tended grass completely concealed by a thick blanket of rich, robust reds and oranges from the towering maple trees.

“Darling, I’ve told you, if you’re unhappy with the state of the landscaping, I can send for a gardener.” Uninterested, Loki picked his book back up and continued reading. “You needn’t worry yourself with backbreaking work.”

“I know, but we’re on Midgard for the season, and I like to do things for myself when we’re here, and not have servants do them for me. For goodness sake, neither of us even knew how to do our own laundry until a few weeks ago.” I tossed a thin jacket on over my red-toned flannel shirt and slim-fitting jeans, an outfit hastily selected before a trip to the farmer’s market that morning. “Now, with or without your help, I’m going outside and raking.”

Cramming a pair of boots on my feet, I left my husband in his confused stupor and dashed down the staircase, seizing the keys to our shed from the dish before emerging onto the wraparound porch.

The crisp autumn air brushed my face pleasantly, the scent of the cool breeze muddled with that of a pie I had in the oven floating out through the open window creating a perfume that I wished would never go away. Pulling my hair into a ponytail as the wind stirred it into a ratty mess, I trekked across the yard to our small red barn that acted as the shed, reaching in and grabbing our never-used rake from its hidden spot in the corner behind the also neglected snow shovel, stuffing the keys in my pocket as I sighed heavily at the enormous amount of work awaiting me.

Guess I’d better get going.

After about twenty minutes of stabbing at the brittle leaves and sweeping them into lumpy, crumbling piles, I heard the front door open and slam shut and turned to find Loki joining me, grumbling.

“Damn you,” he muttered, brushing past me to retrieve his own rake. “Why’d you have to make me feel so guilty? I was perfectly content inside with my book.”

“Hey, that was all you, mister,” I reprimanded. “I never asked you to come out and help.”

“Yes, but I could see you struggling from the window, and I knew that this was too large a job for one person.” Loki finished off one of my piles and went to start a new one. “Besides, I don’t want you to hurt yourself, which will happen if you continue on as you are.”

“Are you calling me weak?” I pressed, propping the rake up and leaning on it coyly.

“No.” Loki rolled the sleeves of his olive button-down to the elbow, revealing his veined alabaster forearms. “This is difficult work, even for me, and I don’t want you straining your back.”

“Uh-huh,” I grunted, unconvinced, swinging the wooden stick around and hitting his perky backside. “How’s that for weak?”

Loki exhaled sharply, clearly forcing himself to keep white-knuckling his own rake so that he didn’t reflexively grab the spot that had been hit.

“Cheeky,” he remarked calmly. “And look at that, you’ve scattered leaves everywhere. You’re going to have to redo that pile.”

“Come on, say you’re sorry for making fun of my supposed struggling,” I taunted.

“You’re the one who should say sorry!” He suddenly made a grab for me, and caught me by the waist as I attempted to scurry away. He began to swing me about with my legs flying out in front of me, and I giggled as I halfheartedly attempted to pry his fingers from his stomach.

“Stop, I can’t breathe!” I squealed. “Truce, truce!”

“Now I’m the one that’s ruined the piles!” Loki exclaimed with false anguish once we both caught our breath, throwing his hands into the air.

“Why are you saying it like that for?”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re blaming me.” I feigned a pout.

“Because I was provoked into the actions that caused me to do so,” he replied heartily, reaching out to tickle me, which I dodged expertly, reaching backwards to retrieve my rake.

“Get back to work, or else this yard will never get done.” I cocked an eyebrow.

“Oh, now you’re Miss No-Nonsense,” my husband taunted.

“That’s Mrs. to you,” I corrected, waving my ringed finger before his face. “Or have you forgotten so soon?”

“I’m married?” Lo questioned sarcastically, gazing into the distance and touching his fingertips to his chin as if deep in thought.

“Oh, quit that unless you want to get spanked again.” I brandished my rake to follow up on the threat.

“Alright, I agree.” He held his hands up in surrender. “If we don’t stop fooling around, it’ll be past midnight before we’re finished.”

We began to resume our work in a comfortable silence that only those as close as we were could accomplish, until the jarring sound of a distant buzzer shattered it.

“Oh, I almost forgot!” I exclaimed. “I need to go get my pie out of the oven.”

After instructing Loki to continue his raking, I dashed back inside and up to the kitchen, hastily stuffing an oven mitt over my hand and yanking the door open, seizing my Dutch apple pie just in time, for it was the perfect shade of golden brown. As I placed it on the cooling rack and began to clean up the remaining mess from the baking, I noticed my stomach growling. I glanced out on my husband in the yard, a slight sheen of sweat coating his porcelain skin, and decided to arrange a snack, filling two travel mugs with hot mulled cider along with a bit of cheddar cheese and crackers, loading it onto a tray and carrying it downstairs.

“I come bearing provisions.” I announced, then noticed that the entirety of the leaves had been neatly raked into perfectly shaped piles. “How did you get this done so quickly?”

“Magic,” Loki admitted, accepting his cider and taking a generous gulp. “The leaves kept getting stuck in the teeth of the rake and the piles just wouldn’t stay piles. It became entirely too frustrating.”

“I don’t blame you. Honestly, I wish we would’ve thought of that about an hour ago.” I took a sip from my own cider, the liquid warming my insides, a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg lingering pleasantly on my tongue.

“It certainly would’ve saved me a day of soreness,” he complained, rubbing his shoulder.

“And you’re not going to be angry at me when I do this.” Setting my cup aside, I took a running start and launched myself into the nearest pile of leaves, the crisp debris flying everywhere like a rainstorm. I fell onto my back in what remained of the mound, rolling about and engulfing myself in the scent of autumn.

“Don’t tell me you wanted to rake the leaves just so you could jump in them.” Loki’s hands found his hips.

“It was my plan all along,” I admitted, moving my arms and legs as if making a snow angel. “Come join me. It’s strangely liberating.”

“You want me to jump in there?” Loki’s nose wrinkled in distaste. “I’d probably come out completely filthy and covered in insects.”

“Oh, you know you want to,” I sang. “We don’t have any neighbors for at least half a mile; it’s not like anyone would be able to see you.”

“You’ll be able to see me, and I’ll look positively ridiculous.”

“I don’t know. I actually think it might be rather...endearing.”

Loki’s face suddenly went blank. “That’s your seductive voice.”

“Is it?” I feigned oblivion, all the while playing up the husky, honeyed tone. “I hadn’t noticed.”

“Do you honestly think that will work?” Loki crossed his arm over his chest, staring down at me sternly.

“Truthfully, I’ll try anything.” I rose from my position on the ground and stepped over to the next pile. “I guess I’ll just have to show you how fun it is again.” I propelled myself into another miniature mountain.

“Maybe I ought to just go back inside.”

“Be my guest. If you want to miss out on one of the greatest human experiences ever, go right ahead.” I scooped up a handful of leaves and tossed them into the air, only to be caught in the midst of a tidal wave of them as Loki finally gave in and slid into the pile next to me.

“And he caves!” I squealed gleefully, crawling over to his crumbled dune. “Come on, admit that you liked it.”

“I think it’s a bit too early to pass judgement.” Lo pulled himself up and stepped over to another mound. “I suppose I’ll just have to try it again.”

I clapped in delight as Loki jumped, a shameless smile of childish glee painted across his features.

“You’re having fun!” I exclaimed, scrambling to my feet and pulling him along with me. “Come on, let’s do the next one together.”

Loki and I linked hands, warm engulfed in cool, and we approached the largest pile that we had made, jumping in together at the count of three and tumbling down in a tangle of limbs, rolling about one another as we attempted to free the leaves from our faces, eventually stopping our motion when I was laying on top of Lo, looking directly into his emerald eyes.

“I love you,” I murmured, sweeping a lock of hair away from his forehead, delighting in seeing him so unequivocally happy, the deeply buried child within him coming to the surface, an occurrence that was as rare as they come.

“I love you, too,” he whispered back, and I leaned down to bestow a sweet yet passionate kiss on his lips, growing deeper as he pulled his back from the ground and I began to straddle him.

“One question, though,” I giggled as we pulled away. “Who’s going to re-rake these leaves?”


End file.
